Blueface angelfish

Care at a glance

Overview

The blueface angelfish is an active, deliberate swimmer for a big, mature saltwater tank without corals. It is best left to experienced keepers.

Caring for the blueface angelfish

Give a blueface angelfish a large, mature tank of at least 219 gal (830 L), with abundant live rock arranged into caves. It does not do well boxed into a small footprint.

Keep the water at 73 to 81°F (23 to 27°C) with a pH of 8.1 to 8.4. In the wild it grazes sponges and encrusting invertebrates. Feed spirulina, marine algae, angelfish preparations, and mysis or frozen shrimp several times a day.

The blueface angelfish is mostly peaceful but turns territorial once it is the largest fish in the tank. It will not tolerate other angelfish, so keep just one.

It is not reef safe. Most individuals nip at stony and soft corals and clam mantles, and a reef-safe blueface is the exception. Breeding it is hard.

Good to know

Juvenile blueface angelfish are black with vertical white and blue bars. Adults develop a bright blue face with a yellow bar across the eyes and a dark patch on top of the head. Their blue body carries a reticulated pattern of yellow-edged scales. The species, in the family Pomacanthidae, was long placed in its own genus, Euxiphipops. Taxonomists later folded it back into Pomacanthus as a subgenus. It also goes by yellowface angelfish and yellowmask angelfish.

In the wild

Blueface angelfish live on coral-rich lagoons, channels and outer reef slopes across the Indo-Pacific. Their range runs from the Maldives to Vanuatu, north to the Yaeyama Islands and Palau. They are typically found at 5 to 30 meters, often near caves. They spend their time foraging over rock and retreat to cover when threatened.

Common questions

Related species

• 

  Emperor angelfish

  Pomacanthus imperator

  15 in (38 cm) · 185 gal (700 L)

  15 in (38 cm)185 gal (700 L)73–81°F (23–27°C)

• 

  Asfur angelfish

  Pomacanthus asfur

  15.7 in (40 cm) · 156 gal (590 L)

  15.7 in (40 cm)156 gal (590 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)

• 

  Koran angelfish

  Pomacanthus semicirculatus

  15.7 in (40 cm) · 185 gal (700 L)

  15.7 in (40 cm)185 gal (700 L)73–81°F (23–27°C)

• 

  French angelfish

  Pomacanthus paru

  16.1 in (41 cm) · 201 gal (760 L)

  16.1 in (41 cm)201 gal (760 L)72–81°F (22–27°C)

• 

  Annularis angelfish

  Pomacanthus annularis

  17.7 in (45 cm) · 219 gal (830 L)

  17.7 in (45 cm)219 gal (830 L)73–81°F (23–27°C)

• 

  Majestic angelfish

  Pomacanthus navarchus

  11.8 in (30 cm) · 145 gal (550 L)

  11.8 in (30 cm)145 gal (550 L)73–81°F (23–27°C)